Off The Record
When they were thrust into the spotlight, they were still just kids. But what has become of Britain’s youngest parents since then?
This week, we shared the news that Tressa Middleton, the youngest mother in Britain, is expecting her fourth child at the age of 29, having given birth at the age of twelve.
Tressa, a resident of Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland, recently shared a photo of a baby ultrasound on Facebook, seventeen years after her first pregnancy made headlines nationwide.
In her post, she exclaimed,
“So guys, it’s another girl!! I can’t believe I’ll have four girls. Good luck, Darren.”
Let’s delve into Tressa’s heartbreaking story and learn about the other youngest parents in Britain as we celebrate her joyous news.
Horrific assault
UK’s most recent youngest mother
For fifteen years, Tressa held the title of Britain’s youngest mother. However, in 2021, it was reported by The Sun that an 11-year-old girl had given birth.
The girl, who remains anonymous for legal reasons, was s****y assaulted at the age of ten.
At the time, her family was unaware of the horrific assault, but social services became involved.
“It has come as a big shock,” said a family friend to The Sun in 2021. “She is now receiving expert help. The main thing is that she and the baby are OK.”
When Tressa’s pregnancy became public knowledge at the age of 11, it was believed to be the result of an incident involving alcohol.
Growing up in a chaotic household with a mother battling addiction, Tressa gave birth shortly after finishing elementary school.
Two years later, the young mother struggled with depression, addiction to alcohol and cigarettes, leading to her child being taken away and put up for adoption.
The identity of the father remained a secret until 2009, when Tressa broke down and revealed to authorities that her older brother Jason had s******y assaulted her.
Jason, who was 34 at the time, was found guilty of s******y abuse that began when Tressa was seven years old. He was sentenced to four years in prison in 2009 based on DNA evidence.
In 2011, Tressa spoke to the Daily Mail and disclosed,
“Sometimes he blackmailed or bribed me to do it… He’d say he was going to tell Mom. He’d give me things like joints, drinks, cigarettes. Or he would threaten me.”
Since then, Tressa has fought to rebuild her life and overcome her heroin addiction, which cost her £400 every day.
She is currently expecting her third child with her partner, Darren Young.
Father with a youthful face
The story of 13-year-old Alfie Patten becoming a father went viral.
Even the then-Prime Minister, David Cameron, commented on the case in 2009, expressing concern that children were becoming parents in Britain.
Alfie had sexual intercourse with his then-15-year-old girlfriend, Chantelle Steadman, during a sleepover in Lower Dicker, East Sussex, when he was just twelve years old. He believed he had fathered a child.
However, six weeks after the birth of Maisie, a DNA test revealed that Alfie was not the biological father. The true father was later identified as 14-year-old Tyler Barker.
Alfie expressed his devastation, telling The Sun in 2014, “I was devastated… It was too much to take in. I cried for days and barely left my room. To make things worse, I never saw Maisie again because Chantelle and her family moved away as soon as they found out I wasn’t the dad. I couldn’t face anything. I couldn’t go to school. I thought my world had ended.”
By 2019, Alfie was unemployed, battling alcoholism, and facing legal issues.
He was serving a suspended sentence for shoplifting, theft, and possession of an imitation firearm when he was involved in car crashes that led to his conviction for criminal damage.
In March 2021, he and his mother were evicted from their home due to suspected drug dealing, as reported by the Daily Mail.
UK’s youngest father
Before Alfie’s case, Sean Stewart was considered Britain’s youngest father in 1998.
At the age of 11, Sean got his 15-year-old neighbor Emma Webster pregnant.
A month after turning twelve, Sean’s son, Ben Louis, was born, and he was granted a day off from school.
When they were dating, Sean and Emma lived in neighboring houses in the village of Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire.
It was said that Sean would climb over the roof to visit Emma.
Emma commented at the time to The Sunday Telegraph,
“He said he was 12, I never would have gone out with him if I knew he was 11.”
Emma later got married to someone else and moved into a £200,000 house.
Sean attended his local school for a while before leaving Bedfordshire in his early teens.
He was reportedly imprisoned for seven months in the late 2000s on suspicion of theft, according to the Daily Mail.
Emma, when asked about Sean’s whereabouts and activities, responded, “I don’t know where Sean is or what he’s doing… I don’t want to talk about it anymore because I don’t think it helps Ben.”
World’s youngest mother at five
Lina Medina holds the record for the youngest mother in history, giving birth in Peru in 1939 at the age of five.
Lina, now 89 years old, suffered from a condition called “precocious puberty”, which causes puberty to begin earlier than usual. Anything before the age of eight is considered “precocious.”
The identity of the father has never been disclosed.
Although her father was arrested on charges of incest, he was later released due to lack of evidence.
In the UK, consensual sx between teenagers of a similar age who are below the legal age of consent (16) is unlikely to result in legal action.
However, all sxual activity involving children under the age of 13 is illegal.
